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Published Sunday, August 30, 2009 in Local

Keeping students with flu home won't violate attendance policy

By Jeff Bishop

The Times-Herald

The Centers for Disease Control said at a seminar in Newnan this week that parents of sick children should keep their children home to help prevent the spread of swine flu -- but how does that square with the new Coweta County School System attendance policy?

The new, stricter policy forces school officials to take out warrants against parents following five unexcused absences. Some parents are questioning the wisdom of having such a policy in place when it might encourage parents to send sick kids to school.

Coweta Schools Superintendent Blake Bass sent home a letter to parents Friday trying to allay their fears and explain the school system's policy.

"Students with flu-like symptoms should not attend school until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication," Bass said.

"Please communicate with the school's attendance clerk by sending a note with your child when he or she returns to school from an absence due to an illness. These absences will be excused. A doctor's note will not be necessary."

This is an important factor, since CDC officials warned a Newnan audience this week that doctors offices may be so overworked this flu season that they "won't have time to write doctor notes."

Rumors have already been circulating regarding possible swine flu cases at two local schools, but so far there are no lab-confirmed cases to report, school system officials said.

"At this point in the school year, we are seeing a number of students with flu-like symptoms and we are receiving reports from parents that students are under physicians' care for flu," said Bass.

"The cases that have been reported to our nurses by parents include reports of both seasonal flu and possible swine flu.

"We are monitoring these reports on a daily basis and we are following the guidance of our local health care officials. We are also monitoring daily attendance rates at each school."

If your child experiences flu-like symptoms such as fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea or diarrhea, contact your physician, Bass said.

"In order to reduce the spread of the flu, cover your nose and mouth with your sleeve or a tissue when coughing or sneezing, wash your hands with soap often, and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth."

School officials pledge to keep the public informed as flu season progresses.

"From this point forward we will notify you if we receive additional information from our health officials or if we see an abnormal increase in absences due to illnesses among our students or staff," Bass said.

Meanwhile, state officials are saying the biggest complaint from school systems is parents still sending sick kids to school, or not coming to get kids who have become sick -- and what to do with the backlog of sick kids in the schools awaiting transport home.

State health officials said they fully expect to see an increase in absenteeism this year.

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